Small settings

As part of our #MagicOfChildminding campaign, we’re celebrating childminders across England and Wales by showcasing the incredible difference they make to children, families, and local communities every day. Here, Vikkie from England shares her story and reflects on how smaller child to adult ratios allows her to dedicate time to be flexible to the needs and interests of each child and create magical learning opportunities for the children in her setting. 

How long have you been working as a childminder and can you tell us about your setting? 

I’ve been working as a childminder for nearly eight years now, but I’ve been in early years for 21 years. My setting is just me. I don’t have any helpers, just the children and the cat. I operate on my own with no more than four children day-to-day, but I also provide wraparound care which I am chosen for by one school. 

Have you found that wraparound care has helped children with continuity of care with you as a trusted adult in their lives? 

I think it makes hard days at school easier. They really enjoy being part of the younger children’s lives. I think to them it’s the next best thing to being able to go straight home because they’ve been here for so long, they just feel really comfortable. They all talk about my husband; they love my husband. I ask, “You love Chris, don’t you?” and they all say “yeah” and Elmo the cat too. They’re very close to my own children as well. I have a 13-year-old and a 10-year-old, it’s like a big family. 

How do you see the unique elements of home-based childcare benefit the children in your care?  

I think mixed age groups is a massive plus – particularly with the younger children and in terms of their Personal, Social, and Emotional Development (PSED) and their communication. They have far more rapid development because they have those strong moral models. They have that opportunity to explore with words and with making sounds in an environment where no one’s going to make fun of them, no one’s going to talk down to them because all the children respect each other. 

It’s funny because today I’ve got two that are going to school in September and one that won’t go to school until next year, but they do not see a divide between themselves.

People talking to him tell me that he’s got a lot to say for two, because he speaks to children older than him all the time and they just have normal conversations with him.

I think the other benefit of having a smaller amount of children to adults is that you can have those really deep and meaningful relationships with them and you can take things slowly. You can have the time to explore what they’re thinking and to let them explain themselves.  

We had a beautiful example yesterday. One of the children was a Vet and she was looking after the poorly Bat, but it was just too poorly and it died. This is what she was telling me. I think that would usually get rushed over but we talked about all the feelings around it. What should we do? We made it a special box, we all said kind words about it and we put it somewhere safe. But we were able to work through that really big part of life. I think if I’d had a big class of children instead of having three children here yesterday, I couldn’t have given that the time it deserved but that’s a massive chunk of learning. 

It’s all supported by one statement of understanding growth and decay, but that encompasses so much more than that and it was such a beautiful and empathetic bit of play. For me, it’s about time. It really is about having not just time in terms of hours on the clock, but you’re not rushing anywhere. You have your own timetable, so I don’t provide food, so we have lunch when we have lunch. If something really important is happening lunch can be half an hour later because no one’s cooking it for me. So, we just do it when we’re ready. 

I think the children just get that extra bit of time where the curriculum is focused around them. It’s also a lot easier to tailor your curriculum when you’ve got less children to tailor it to.

How do you celebrate each child’s individuality and weave their interest into your daily routines and learning? 

As a childminder, you’re not set to anything, you don’t have to stay at home or in the setting. If the children suddenly out of nowhere turn around and say they really want to bake gingerbread we don’t have to say “we’ll do that next week when I’ve had time for the chef to get the ingredients”. Instead, I can say “well, what do we need? Let’s go.” It gives you that chance to be more responsive.  

Every child’s thoughts and feelings are equally valued because you’ve got the time to zero in on them. We have what we call a Proud Board. If they’re doing something really special at home that they want to show everyone we put it on the Proud Board so everyone can see. That’s completely in their control as well. Then the older ones have a separate board. If they draw a special picture and they want to keep it here, then that’s where they put it. One of my older ones, she’s 13 now, she made us a little logo with an anime cartoon – that’s up on the board. 

It’s back to time – I just think because you are not as divided and you’re not split in so many directions that getting to know these children individually is much easier. However, it does make it even harder when they leave – I guess that comes back to knowing their families and their home lives and knowing them so well. 

How do you think this supports them in the long term? What lifelong skills do you think they’ll gain from your setting? 

I think one of the biggest things that they gain is a really clear sense of self and individuality. When they go to school, I find these children do not get lost in a crowd because they know who they are. I think that it also creates far more motivated learners because they’re able to follow their interests, not just in terms of the things they like, but also the things they’re driven to learn. They have that innate curiosity and that drive to achieve.  

Do you think that children who have been in childminder settings are the best advocates for childminding? 

The other day we asked one of the children, “well, why do you like going to a childminder?” They said, “one of the most interesting things we get to do is grown-up things”. I said, “what do you mean?”.  

She said, “well, we do baking and if we don’t have the things for baking, we make a shopping list and we can go to the shops like grown-ups do and go on the bus. We go to the library to get books out…” and she was just listing all these things that you can do with the children as a childminder. Those world experiences teach them a lot. I think that’s all part of school readiness is having that sense of self and awareness of their place in the world. 

There is this sense in childminder settings that children develop more independence. How does this come into play in your setting? 

I think they also know they can ask for what they need. My lot know that the answer is not always yes. Sometimes you can’t do things. I find childminding children tend to be more motivated because you’re encouraging them to think about what they need and to be more independent. 

Childminders have the unique ability to teach children practical skills a bit at a time and for it to be part of a daily routine. A number of my parents are shocked that they can put on their own coats and shoes because they don’t do it for them at home. One parent told me that their child can’t put them on, but I said he has been doing for the last six months here. He huffed and put his shoes on, I said “now mummy will never put your shoes on for you again”. 

I think that makes them more capable in the long run and it makes them more engaged with the idea of learning because they get their own intrinsic reward from it. They’re not learning because someone’s told them to learn it. They’re learning it because it means something to them. I can foster that in childminding more than I have been able to in any other role.

How do you build trusting relationships with the parents of the children that you support? 

I always meet children first and I never accept families without meeting them first. I always love to meet families to gauge whether they fit with the setting as much as to gauge whether they want me as their childminder. I think it’s a two-way process. 

I try to establish a relationship with them from the first time they walk in the door. I make a point to do doorstep drop-offs and to have conversations with my parents every day. Even if it’s about something little that their child has done, I make a point that needs to happen every day, even if they’re rushing off. I tend to just talk to them like people. 

I think that it’s very easy to almost form this routine like it’s a business. But to these families, it’s not a business, it’s everything. These are their children. You’re not washing their car, this is their world and it is in your hands. 

How do you provide holistic family support that goes “beyond” childcare?  

I think it’s very easy to think of parents as just being the producers of these children and not as individual people. I’ve seen a few families through some truly terrible things. I mean, one of my families two years ago, the Mum was diagnosed with a very rare type of cancer. She was told she was terminal and that she probably wouldn’t make it through Christmas.  

I worked with them and with a specific cancer charity to help to have these discussions with Mum, with the child, and I made time to have discussions with Mum regularly about how she was feeling. I had family in touch with me such as the Mum’s partner, Mother-in-Law and I’d worked with her cousin. I worked with all the family to support them with that. Then they suggested she had radiology and literally as a miracle, she went into full remission. She never stopped believing and they still see me now. As I said, it was several years ago, and they still see me driving past and wave at me. Every so often they’ll turn up at my door, and I’ll get a little update on how they’re all doing. 

Then I’ve seen parents through divorces, through the loss of family members and I think it’s very difficult, not just going through these things, but going through these things when you’ve got a young child and you’re really worrying about how that’s going to impact them. I think one of the hardest things is to draw the line though those relationships and the balance between being that link for that family and also having a bit of a professional boundary. I’d probably say that’s a weakness of mine.  

You’re in a unique position to help people that you wouldn’t otherwise. I think in terms of safeguarding as well, you have a much better awareness quite often of what’s happening in families. I did have one family where they went through a particularly nasty divorce, and I just had to have discussions with the parents about how they were behaving towards each other. I said “you might not like each other right now. That’s fine, but you can’t do that in front of your daughter. You dislike each other in public and in private but dislike each other out of the earshot of your child.” 

They’ve told me since that it probably wouldn’t have been as easy if they hadn’t had me acting as a midway point to help them to support their child because they couldn’t see a way through supporting their child and managing this particularly unpleasant divorce. 

There’s something to be said for being able to be that advocate for a child due to the smaller settings and the time you can give them? 

I think you have to think that you’re an advocate for the family. You’re not just for the child, you know. I think being a childminder, you buy into the whole family. 

See more case studies for the Magic of Childminding campaign on our campaign webpage. You can read from childminders reflecting on the magic of SEND/ALN provision, wraparound care, family support and more in their settings.